Luna Everleigh's POV
***
The forest blurred around me.
Rhydian moved impossibly fast, his strides fluid, his grip firm but careful as he carried me deeper into the unknown. Wind lashed against my skin, whipping my hair around my face. I clutched his shoulders instinctively, my breath coming in short, sharp bursts.
We should have hit the dense trees ahead. I braced myself for the impact—only to feel the air around us shift.
A ripple. A distortion.
And then—nothing.
I gasped as the scenery around us changed in an instant.
The forest we had been in was already vast, but this… this was different. The trees here were enormous, their roots twisting in intricate patterns beneath a sky that shimmered with an unnatural glow. Wisps of light drifted between the branches, flickering like fireflies but moving with eerie precision. The air itself was thicker, humming with an energy I didn't understand.
Rhydian slowed his pace, his arms still locked around me. "We're here."
I struggled, trying to break free, but he only sighed before setting me down on my feet.
A mistake.
The moment I stood, my legs buckled. My knees hit the moss-covered ground, my hands sinking into the damp earth.
"What…?" I panted. My body felt like it had been wrung dry, exhaustion slamming into me like a wave. "Why does it—feel so—"
Rhydian crouched in front of me, his expression unreadable. "The Veil takes a toll on outsiders," he said. "Your body isn't used to its magic."
Magic.
I wanted to argue, to deny what I was seeing, but how could I? The air itself pulsed with something otherworldly, the sky glowed with colors that shouldn't exist, and there was a heavy presence pressing against my skin, as if the very ground beneath me was alive.
This wasn't just a hidden part of the forest.
This was another world entirely.
A world of wolves.
—
To be continued...